Whole Brain Teaching - The Five Rules and Poster Freebies!

I use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom - and I love it!  It has made classroom management so much easier.  Each morning we start class by reciting the five rules which are spelled out below:

The Rules

Whole Brain Teaching revolves around 5 main rules:

Rule #1 - Follow Directions Quickly
Rule #2 - Raise Your Hand for Permission to Speak
Rule #3 - Raise Your Hand for Permission to Leave Your Seat
Rule #4 - Make Smart Choices
Rule #5 - Keep Your Dear Teacher Happy

Here are some free whole-brain teaching rules posters you can download for your class:

Subway Art Style Rules

 

Cute kids in frames style

 

 

Chevron Style

For those of you who teach younger kiddos, you might like these color-and-trace rules to pass out as you teach each rule.

 

Color And Trace Style

 

 

Owl Style

 

Do you use Whole Brain Teaching In Your Class?  How do you introduce the rules?

What's Your Math Problem!?! Book Study Chapter 4

I am linking up with
                                                     Jennifer Smith-Sloane from 4mulaFun
                                                     Meg Anderson  from Fourth Grade Studio
                                                    Jamie Riggs from MissMathDork
                                                    and Jennifer Findley from Teaching to Inspire 5th Grade

for this book study on What's Your Math Problem!?!



 If you missed my previous posts you can find them here:

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Chapter 4 - Getting Organized Strategies

This chapter examines the following strategies that Gojak says "form the foundation for mathematical problem solving".

• Look for a pattern
• Create a table
• Create and organized list
• Guess and check

Look for a Pattern

Gojack states that "patterns are fundamental to mathematics".  All of our number systems, even our base ten system use patterns.  Although students begin working with patterns at very young ages (pre-school and kindergarten), Gojak suggests that students of all ages should have many opportunities to work with patterns, including extending and creating their own patterns.  The author asks, "How can you encourage students to look for patterns in the work they do in mathematics?"  I wonder how I can implement this in class.

Create a Table
Students can organize the information in a problem by creating a table.  Once the information is in a table, it might be easier for the student to see any patterns or relationships that exist.  When I finished my Master's my thesis was on Proportional Reasoning and the use of ratio tables.  I found it quite powerful in organizing student's thinking. 

Create an Organized List
Making an organized list is a great way to solve combination problems.  It helps students to identify the work they have already done, and to see what additional work needs to be done.

Guess and Check
Gojak states that this strategy is often the least used because of the association teachers may have with students making wild guesses.  You know the type when you ask how many days are in a week and they guess 265,534.  She says that the key to this strategy is the checking - "Does my answer make sense?"

Which of these strategies have you used in your classroom? What successes have you had?

Teaching To Inspire in 5th Grade made these awesome strategy posters you can use in your class.

Create a Table strategy).

                                          

Organizing Research Writing

When I worked on the Common Core Units and District Assessments, I had the opportunity to work with some AMAZING teachers from all around our district.  One of the teachers there shared this organizational system for research that she uses with her students during the research unit for 4th grade. In our district several grades have to write research papers, so it could work for many grades.  I remember using a similar system with note cards when I learned how to write a research paper in 7th grade.  I love the way that her system stores the note cards though!  I am sharing some quick pics I snapped with my iphone, but I will share more when I use this with my students this upcoming school year.

The blue strip at the bottom is construction paper stapled to the folder (which is legal size).

The fabulous teacher who shared this with us told us that she just has the secretary at her school order library card envelopes (240 = 8 per student X  30).  The other teachers and I mentioned that you could make the envelopes yourself with construction paper or cut envelopes.  I have seen these at the Dollar Tree as well.

Here is a close-up of a few of the cards out of the pockets.  I LOVE this idea and can't wait to use it with my kiddos! 

How do you teach research writing?

Monday Made It

When I was a little girl, I carried around a Snoopy doll everywhere I went.  I might have even said that I was going to marry Snoopy.  So you could imagine my reaction when I saw the Peanuts line from Really Good Stuff.

Yes, I screamed and shouted really loud and asked hubby if he minded me changing my theme again this year.  He agreed and I ordered tons a few of the things they had.

But... I have a few classroom items that I use that I wanted to match, so for today's Monday Made It I wanted to show a few of the things I have been working on.  I haven't printed anything out or hung them up yet, but I have finished a few things on the computer.



The first thing I made were schedule cards.  My kiddos are constantly asking, "What time is recess?  What special do we have?" With schedule cards I can just direct their attention to the board.  They have to solve the elapsed time on their own!

 

 

I also use Whole Brain Teaching in my classroom, so I made the 5 rules Snoopy style as well.  Here are two of them:

 

They came out pretty stinkin' cute in my humble opinion!

 

I have also been hard at work on my place value unit for the beginning of the year.  It will be available at both TpT and Teachers Notebook when I finally finish it!

 

It has I Can Statements

 

Vocabulary/Word Wall Cards

Lesson Plans

Games

 

 

And Assessments

 

 

I will let you know when I finish it... It is a monster of a project.  Also, don't forget to enter my contest to win a TpT gift certificate and other great prizes!

July Currently

Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade has big vacay plans, so she posted Currently early - which was perfect for me since we are headed out to All Stars this morning and I have NO IDEA how long we will be gone!

Listening: With a house full of boys and a sports obsessed husband - I am surprised that this isn't ALWAYS my listening response!

Loving: I am not motivated to exercise - (at all!) but I know that it needs to be done, so I am loving the fact that I have been getting up every morning to run on the treadmill, and I was able to go to BodyPump class this week! I LOOOVE Body Pump but with our busy schedule I don't always get there.  YEAH ME!

Thinking: Tyler made All Stars for baseball this year, and we are heading out this morning.  The way All Stars works is if they lose two games they go home, but if they win, they stay until they lose. So... we have no idea how long we will be gone for!  We have packed enough for 5 days and figure we will find a Laundromat while we are there if we need to.  Packing is always so nerve wracking trying to make sure you don't forget anything.

Wanting/Needing: Yeah, these two are combined.  I couldn't make up my mind if it was a want or need.  Anything over 100 degrees is just WAY TOO hot! While it is exciting to be involved in something record breaking, a heat wave is just not my idea of fun!

Tips: Blogging can seriously take over your life if you let it.  As soon as I discovered you could schedule posts ahead of time, I definitely took advantage.  It allows me to still be with my kiddos and share with all of my readers.  Family needs MUST come first. :)

Don't forget to enter my Blogaversary Giveaway for a $25 TpT Gift Card and other great prizes!

Blogaversary Giveaway and Sale!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

 

I can not believe that my little blog is already a year old!  Where does the time go?  That means that it is time for a giveaway! I will also be having a celebration sale at both my TpT and Teachers Notebook stores this week.

 

Without further ado... here are the prizes:

 

A $25 gift certificate for TpT to get you ready for the upcoming school year!

 

 

And while you are browsing all of the goodies at TpT - you will be wanting to be sipping on a little something, so I will also be giving away a $5 Starbucks gift card as well!

 

 

In addition, the winner will receive any item of their choice from my TpT store.

 

 

Jessica from Teach on a Limb  is also offering a free item from her TpT store.

 



 



  Lacey's Letters also donated this word wall set.  

 

And Sara from Miss V's Busy Bees

 

donated her I've Got Money, Honey Bundled Set

 

 

      a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five For Friday and Giveaway News!

It is Friday again - which means time for Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Here are a few random things from my week:

 

I spent most of this week working on writing common assessments for our district.  I learned a lot from the other teachers there and I can't wait to share some of the great ideas! Above is a picture of an activity we did prior to writing the assessment.  It gave me some ideas for having students sort and sequence all sorts of things - place value, story sequencing, historic figure timelines, etc.  Have you ever used a sort like this in your class?  How did it go?

 

 

One of the teachers there had just purchased these books (she had the ELA one too) and shared them with our group.  I am thinking about getting them, but I'm not 100% sure.  Have you used these books (or types of books) in your class?  What were the results?

 

 

On a non-teaching note, this week had a touch of sadness and joy when my second son moved into his own apartment! Well, technically not his own, he is living with his older brother, but still!  Powell was born with special needs and we had been told he would never walk or talk.  He just graduated high school last month - with a regular diploma!  A bittersweet moment losing a son, but joyful knowing that he has overcome so much in his life to be able to take this step into adulthood!

 

On another kid note, Tyler got hit with a baseball at his practice Monday night.  It hit him so hard, you could see the laces from the ball on his forehead! OUCH!  But.. he is so tough - he smiled through it and asked to go back out after putting ice on his head for about two minutes.  We will be heading to All Stars this weekend - it is supposed to be 106 degrees!  YIKES!

 

 

And finally... can you believe it??? Today is my blog's one year anniversary!  Time really flies when you're having fun doesn't it?  But... that also means it is time for a giveaway!  I will be having a giveaway starting tomorrow where I will be giving away some of my favorite things!  A few fabulous TpT sellers will also be getting in on the fun with a few donated items as well!  Don't forget to stop by tomorrow to enter!

 

Clipart from MyCuteGraphics.com